


Surround Me, Hold Me Deep Beneath Your Waves

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Series: Odd Discoveries [2]
Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Cis Saiba Nico, Cunnilingus, Established Relationship, Exophilia, F/F, Fingering, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Grinding, Kissing, Mentioned Hanaya Taiga/Maki Jirou, Mentioned Kagami Hiiro/Houjou Emu, Non-Binary Poppy Pipopapo, Nonbinary Character, Oral Sex, Sorry Minimal Editing, Trans Female Character, Trans Poppy Pipopapo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:48:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26292910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: After their first intense meeting, the merperson comes back to meet Nico officially. As time goes by, their relationship deepens until it hits a tipping point.
Relationships: Saiba Nico/Poppy Pipopapo
Series: Odd Discoveries [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949182
Comments: 11
Kudos: 7
Collections: Oreos' Fanfic Gauntlets





	1. -5 Rocking the Boat

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Electric Love by BØRNS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally supposed to be a one chapter fic but the 5+1 format is something that really helped me organize this.
> 
> Also the way I currently imagine merfolk gender in this AU is vague. Kind of a “if that’s how you feel go for it,” culture, so I have the non-binary and trans tags, because the most solid thing I have is using they/she pronouns for Poppy

The morning after Nico's encounter with the merperson, she took an extra ten minutes to just lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, convinced she just imagined the whole thing. When she finally felt ready to get up, she went to her desk, opened her laptop, and started looking through her footage. Just when she started to feel relieved that she imagined it, there was a flash of pink. Nico squinted at the video, eyes glued to the screen until the merperson suddenly swam into view. Transfixed, she watched the events, feeling a little heat in the pit of her stomach as things started to get more intimate.

Nico tried to watch more but had to hit pause because her thoughts were racing and the video going on in the background was just adding to the jumbled mess swirling around in her head. She slumped back in her chair, fingers pressing at her temples against an oncoming headache as the merperson stared back at her from the frame on her screen.

There was too much to consider here. Would they be coming back? Did she and the merperson have some kind of relationship now? Or was it more of a one-time situation?

Her thoughts were cut short by a loud bang against the side of the boat and her whole room tilting slightly like they just rode over a huge wave. She scrambled to grab onto her laptop with one hand, holding tight to the desk, thankfully bolted to the floor, with the other. When everything finally leveled out, she closed her laptop and shoved it back into its case where it would be relatively safe. Nico could hear some running around on deck above her, and dashed out of her room to check out what was happening.

The boat got hit a few more times, sending her careening into the walls and wobbling her way upstairs when it caught her off guard until she finally reached the top and burst through the door to the deck. She looked around, noticing Hiiro leaning over the side, seemingly looking for something while Kiriya was running around, making sure their equipment was secure. The lack of Taiga meant he probably had another rough, sleepless night and was finally out cold for probably the next hour or so.

"Saiba," Hiiro greeted, "Are you going to keep standing there, or are you going to help?"

She rolled her eyes, "And good morning to you too, Hiiro. What's going on?"

"No idea," Kiriya butted in, throwing a coil of rope over her shoulders, "Hold that for me, please."

Nico heaved the rope off her, throwing it to the ground with some effort, "I'll go help Hiiro look for whatever's doing this," she grumbled, heading to the front of the boat.

They had some snorkeling gear stowed away for more casual dives and reef studies and she started getting her fins and goggles out when Hiiro raised his voice slightly, "I'd advise against that."

"Somebody's gotta check it out!"

Kiriya dropped whatever was in his hands, "Seriously? Nico, is this your first day? Why the hell do you wanna go in the water with whatever that is—?"

The boat got rocked again by another solid hit, almost sending all of them sprawling against the deck. Once they got their footing again, the door to the lower deck slowly opened to reveal a Taiga looking like a warmed-over corpse. While he started demanding to know what was going on, effectively distracting Kiriya and Hiiro, Nico grabbed the snorkeling gear and ran over to the side of the boat to let down their ladder. Just as she was putting the flippers on, something bright pink drew her zoomed by her in the water and she froze.

The merperson seemed to notice her, too because the large, bright shape under the water started doubling back for her. They silently surfaced from the water, giving her a little wave with both webbed, clawed hands. Nico's jaw dropped and she held up both hands, mouthing 'Wait,' at them and their eyes widened, diving back down until they were a barely visible dark purplish shape under the water. She threw her fins aside and ran back to the others.

Nico started trying to get them back downstairs, assuring them that it was probably just their imaginations even though they all _definitely_ felt the way the merperson was trying to get their attention. With some suspicious looks from all of them and a lot of shoving, she finally managed to convince everyone to head back down and slammed the door behind them. When she was sure they were doing whatever they got up to in their spare time, Nico climbed down the ladder on the side of the boat, waiting for the merperson to resurface, hoping they could figure out the coast was clear. Eventually, they seemed to get the message and tentatively surfaced.

The merperson seemed a little sheepish, and Nico tilted her head, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry!" They squeaked with a cute voice Nico wasn't expecting. Before she could ask them for what, they started nervously explaining how their mating season worked and how embarrassed they were about how they rushed into things when the two of them had only just met. She started feeling a little annoyed when she couldn't get in a word edgewise to tell them it was fine, but she'd give them a pass this time because they were obviously anxious about the whole situation. They must've been running themself in circles thinking about what happened because they sure kept going.

Nico just held up a hand and they finally froze. The merperson looked up at her with wide, red eyes, and Nico took a moment to breathe, then asked, "What's your name?"

They stared up at her with open wonder for a few moments, then their face broke out into a huge, toothy grin.

"I'm Poppy."

And Nico couldn't help but smile back.


	2. -4 Diving Buddy

After their reunion, Nico was eager to keep meeting with Poppy, and they seemed to feel the same. Unfortunately, just wanting to be friends wasn't enough to make this go smoothly, and Nico was still wary of her shipmates seeing them together. They came up with some ground rules for when they meet, much to Poppy's disappointment, but they seemed to understand Nico's concerns enough. Maybe they'd dealt with humans before because they agreed to meet at night easily enough. Poppy's take on the 'only meet at night' rule drastically changed when they saw how much time they were able to spend with Nico uninterrupted... At least until the team had to move their operation to the reef.

When that happened, it was Nico's turn to have a problem with the arrangement. In theory, it should've been fine. She let Poppy know about the change, and of course, happily followed the boat at a safe distance when they were finally ready to move out. And Poppy was able to maneuver in the reef almost as easily in open water, so there was no problem there. No, the problem was

"Fucking Kiriya," Nico grumbled.

Poppy patted her arm sympathetically, "You're especially grumpy tonight. What did he do?"

She made a face, "Don't say I'm _grumpy._ Makes me sound like I'm a little kid or something."

Poppy giggled, "It's a very dignified grumpiness."

Nico's scowl deepened and she crossed her arms. Poppy tugged on her forearms, trying to get her to open up again. Nico fought back, stubbornly tucking her hands into her armpits and tried to keep her annoyed face on, but couldn't stay mad with Poppy's big grin and sparkling eyes directed right at her and cracked a smile.

They finally tugged Nico's arms down, taking her hands in their huge, webbed ones, "So, you were telling me about Kiriya before you got all huffy."

The reminder had Nico rolling her eyes, "Oh right, Kiriya." She pouted, bringing a finger up to tap against her lips while she thought. "Okay, first off, we have to keep swimming away from the boat because he's been doing all these late-night dives lately."

Poppy's brow furrowed and their eyes grew wide, "You don't like our swims?"

Nico grumbled quietly, "Don't try that pouty face with me, you know I like swimming with you. It's a good workout, but sometimes I just wanna..." she shrugged, "just sit here and chat with my neat shark friend, ya know?"

That got Poppy to stop the 'on the brink of fake crying' eyes real quick. Their look turned so earnest and happy so quickly their face was practically glowing.

Nico blushed under so much positive attention, clearing her throat to distract from the butterflies in her stomach and move the conversation along. Just when she was fumbling for something to say, Poppy picked up the chatter for her, asking, "So is that why we're hanging out at the boat for the first time in a while?"

Nico quickly regained her composure and nodded, "Yeah, this is a dual purpose, us just hanging out together for once, and a fuck you to Kiriya because he doesn't control how we hang out!"

Poppy grinned again, pearly fangs glinting in the moonlight, sending shivers down Nico's spine that weren't entirely unpleasant. She swallowed the feelings down, trying to suppress them and focus on the conversation at hand as they started chatting about more mundane things. They caught up on the days they'd been away from each other while Poppy was hunting and exploring the reef, and Nico was up to her same old same old research, processing video files, and chores on the ship. Much to Nico's jealousy, Poppy was having a blast on exploring the reef. They found lots of cool tidepools and particularly interesting parts of the reef, even interacting with some of the local merfolks.

As the night went on, their conversation started to wind down. Poppy had taken to floating on their back while Nico leaned against the railing of the ladder, trying her best to not look sleepy. She was just debating if they should say goodnight when Poppy made a thoughtful hum and rolled over to their front to face Nico again. Nico lifted her head curiously and Poppy didn't meet her eyes, still deep in thought.

"Do you know why your friend keeps going out at night?" They tilted their head, finally meeting Nico's eyes "Maybe if you can figure it out, you can get him to stop."

Nico heaved a sigh, "I sure know _why_ he's doing it," She pulled out her phone, scrolling a bit until she turned it towards Poppy. "Have you ever seen anything like this before? He hasn't shut up about it until recently."

Poppy squinted at the photo, lips pursing into a cute, thoughtful pout as they examined Kiriya's discovery. It was a pale, somewhat spikey and really freaky looking nudibranch that he kept in one of their observation tanks in his room.

"Sorta looks like a worm," They finally said, "But I don't recognize what kind."

Nico snorted, "Yeah, just last week, he wouldn't shut up about how he felt like he was close but didn’t know exactly what it was either," She sighed, "Maybe he figured it out though. He just froze in the middle of dinner when he was explaining some new things it’s been doing, mumbled something incoherent about polychaeta, and then holed himself up in his room. Probably just another worm that's already been discovered, like it always is."

From behind them, Nico could hear the door open and gestured for Poppy to hide, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear," she whispered and Poppy giggled as they disappeared under the water, a few droplets glistening in the moonlight off their tail. Nico waited, listening to see if Kiriya was going to start pacing and if she'd have to swim off with Poppy or if he was just grabbing something. When she heard him rustling around near the front of the boat, she popped her head over the side, watching him make his way to the bow.

She saw him grab his snorkeling gear from the storage crate, then went off the other side of the boat. When she was sure he was gone, she climbed back down and splashed to signal Poppy it was okay for them to surface again.

"He's gone," Nico said, unable to entirely get the bitterness out of her tone.

"Seems like something else is bothering you about this," Poppy said with a sympathetic face.

Nico looked away, "...Yeah." she said reluctantly.

Poppy made a tiny, encouraging motion with their hands and Nico had to chuckle.

"It's just... it's stupid but like. He gets on my case about being safe when you were trying to get my attention by banging on the hull, and now he's all doing whatever by breaking our biggest safety rule."

"And what's that?"

"Never go out without your diving buddy." Nico paused to see if Poppy understood the concept, and nodded at the confused expression she got.

"We have diving teams: me and Taiga, and Hiiro and Kiriya." She smiled when she could see the question forming in Poppy's head and quickly explained, "When you met me, diving in the cage is more of a one-person thing, so the diving buddy runs safety checks and watches for trouble in case the person in the cage needs to bail out. Basically, with anything we do, we should always have someone to help."

"So when it comes to him," She scoffed, "I'm not a kid, so he shouldn't be able to give me shit about safety if he's gonna be a big hypocrite about it."

"Maybe it's because he cares?" Poppy offered slowly, putting a comforting hand on Nico's shin, "He wanted you to be safe, and he doesn't want to risk his diving buddy searching for whatever that worm is if it's not all that important to the rest of you?"

Nico's mouth dropped open, a retort on the tip of her tongue, but she snapped it shut, opting for a scowl instead. She wanted to stay mad at Kiriya. This whole time, she was convinced that he thought he was better than the rest of them because his natural confidence often came off like the rules just didn't apply to him, and the way he joked about swimming before he could crawl while also giving her pointers got on her nerves. So maybe she was being harsh because what Poppy was saying did make a lot of sense. They all treated his worm talk like it was annoying. And yeah, by the fourth day straight of worm talk, they were all exhausted. And maybe they could've been more straightforward with each other, but he didn't have to take the jump straight to looking for it on his own.

She'd have to talk to him about it later... Too much to think about now and she needed sleep soon. Right now, she wanted to dedicate her brain to Poppy, who was giving her another earnest look.

"What's up?" She asked, raising her eyebrows interestedly.

"Can I be your dive buddy, too?" They asked slowly, like they were unsure if they were even allowed to.

Nico's eyes widened, a smile quickly spreading over her face, "Hell yeah. Actually, if you think about it, we've been dive buddies since you came by to knock the boat around."

Poppy sprung out of the water with an excited squeak, nearly pulling Nico in with them as she was wrapped up in a big hug. The initial unsteadiness caught her off guard, but Nico returned the hug with a tight squeeze quickly, closing her eyes and smiling into Poppy's shoulder.

Having them as second dive buddy was the best thing to happen in a long time.


	3. -3 Come Wearing Gifts

"Oh, your hair's different this time," Poppy greeted as Nico got in the water with them.

Her hand flew to the scrunchie keeping her hair tied up in a high ponytail, "Is it weird?"

Poppy shook their head, grinning wide, "I think it's cute! I really like the little bubbles."

Nico took her hair down and handed the hair tie to Poppy, "Check it out, then. It's my favorite one."

They took it carefully, holding it with both hands like it was a small animal, watching it closely. Nico could sort of understand why. It looked like a little seastar, or maybe even an urchin with really tiny spines all bunched up in their hands. Either way, it definitely looked like something that belonged in the coral reefs because of its vibrant gradient from pink to purple and little plastic bubbles with a blue tinge woven into it.

Poppy blinked curiously, "What makes this your favorite?"

"Well, for one, it's surprisingly good at holding my hair up. But mostly because it's a gift"

Poppy's brow raised, "From who?"

Nico hesitated since they seemed overly surprised about it, but eventually answered, "Hiiro?"

Poppy's eyes went even wider, "Um well, that's great? You just never seemed to have an interest when you talk about him. With any of your friends really so this is a surprise."

The hell were they going on about? "Interest?" Nico tensed as the word left her mouth. Oh, god wait. Did they mean? "Nonono, hell no, wait, Poppy, it's not like _that!_ He broke my old one and had to replace it. Is gift-giving a huge thing for you?"

Poppy had leaned away from Nico's flailing hands during her hurried explanation. Now that she finally calmed down, Poppy leaned back in and nodded with their usual enthusiasm, "It's a courting thing."

Nico hummed, a smirk blooming on her face, "Should I be insulted that you didn't get me anything for our first time, then?"

If sharks could blush, Poppy would probably be the deep red of her stripes right now. Nico's smile only grew now it was Poppy's turn to start waving their hands around frantically, making a bunch of garbled attempts at speech.

"That's totally different!" They finally managed to squeak and Nico patted them comfortingly on the shoulder.

"Okay, okay. Don't hurt yourself, I'm just kidding."

Poppy huffed, "That wasn't very funny."

They looked so upset that Nico pulled them in for a little side hug, "Alright, no more of those jokes. At least to the best of my ability not to tell them."

The merperson still looked miffed but opened their arms to return the hug.

"So gift-giving is really important to you, huh?"

Poppy nodded slightly, "It made me worried to hear it's your favorite on top of being a gift."

Nico suddenly leaned deep into Poppy's personal space, "Ohhh?" She raised an eyebrow suggestively, "Is that because you like me?"

Poppy wriggled out of her arms, hiding their face with their hands, "No! I mean..." Their shoulders slumped and they pouted back at her, "It's complicated."

Nico sighed fondly, "Sorry again, got carried away. Just... um... I got excited, that maybe was the case, so tell me when you figured it out. If you're ready of course," she finished awkwardly, lightly punching Poppy on the bicep to cover up for her nervousness.

Poppy was still pouting, but it looked more like they were trying to hide a smile and their nervousness all at once, "I will," they sighed forcefully, "So, trying to get out of telling me how you got this thing?" Poppy raised their arm out of the water, dangling the scrunchie between two fingers.

Nico snorted, "Of course not. It's a really short story and nothing bad happens. _You're_ just too fun to tease."

"I can tell," Poppy shook their head slightly.

"So like, one time I was on shore leave with the guys and we were just hanging out at the mall. We're just sitting down to eat, so I don't need my hair up for anything, and like Hiiro looks nervous. He doesn't really do well in crowded spaces and Kiriya's like 'we _have_ to go to the most crowded udon place in the food court,'" she dropped her voice to mock his, getting Poppy to chuckle, "So I hand over my hair tie, just give him something to distract from how many people there are. And like, it was old, he's not great at gauging his strength, and he stretched it too hard and it snapped right in the middle of our lunch."

Nico snorted, trying to mask her laugh at the memory and her amusement at Poppy listening like this was the most interesting thing in the world.

"So without missing a beat, he just gets up, leaves everything behind and disappears somewhere in the mall. We're all worried like 'Oh no he hates crowds, is he gonna be okay?' and we just get rid of all our food and try to find him. And like, just when we think we've lost him for good, he just like, walks out of a store and puts that scrunchie in my hands," Nico finally let out a laugh, "He just said, 'sorry,' like we weren't ready to start a mass panic looking for him."

Poppy smiled warmly at her, "Sounds like you have a lot of good memories with this," handing the scrunchie back to Nico.

"Yeah, it's been through a lot with me," Nico smiled as she took it back, ideas slowly brewing in her head as she tied her hair up again, "Well, c'mon, are we gonna go for a swim or what?"

Poppy nodded, "I found this really secluded tide pool..."

The rest of their sentence got cut off as they dove down into the water, continuing to talk even though Nico couldn't hear. She laughed, then bit down on her snorkel, paddling hard to catch up to her friend.


	4. -2 Hideaway

Nico was pissed. She didn't really want to be, but it had been a rough week. It had been a rough month, honestly. Living with the same three people in close quarters was grating, especially with her three idiots. They were feeling it too, she could tell in the way they were all acting. Hiiro was doing his usual emotional distancing by shutting down on them, Kiriya was going out on more dives, and his playful jabs were starting to go for things that hurt instead of things they could all brush off easily. And Taiga was just doing his usual when he was stressed, saying rude shit when he was around them and holing up in his room, probably using up all his data to text or do video calls with Maki when he had the time.

She loved them all, she really did, but they were some of the most insufferable people she'd ever met. Which was fair, she guessed, they also knew her.

When Poppy finally showed up, Nico wanted to fling herself into their arms, and ask them to just start swimming and never turn back, maybe they could be roommates. She got about as far as the first step, jumping into the water fully clothed, Poppy flailing to catch her. They were saying a lot of things, most of it in a frantic, concerned tone, but it mostly just went in one ear, out the other as she cuddled against their shoulder.

Poppy's barrage of concerned questions eventually quieted down and they just held Nico close. She promised herself she wouldn't cry in front of Poppy, so she just focused on breathing and the feeling of being gently held in Poppy's strong arms. When Nico finally started feeling better for the first time all week, she lifted her head, sighing, trying to muster up the energy to smile at the shark. She was only met with worry in those glistening red eyes, figures, and patted Poppy's shoulder.

"Thanks," Nico cleared her throat, "I needed that."

Poppy gave her a little smile in return, "I came to tell you about a little cove I found, and I think it might be the perfect thing to get away from whatever's happening."

"Please, whisk me away," Nico threw her arms around Poppy's neck dramatically, "Take me from this godforsaken boat."

She felt the chuckle rumble through Poppy's chest against her, making her cheeks heat up and finally, genuinely grin for the first time in what felt like ever.

"Okay, hold on tight then," Poppy said as they shifted Nico to rest on their back, holding onto their shoulders. Nico gave them a little squeeze when she was comfortably resting against them, to let them know it was okay to go. And Poppy sank down into the water a little, just enough to submerge themself, slowly swimming off at first, getting used to the extra weight on their back, no doubt. But once Poppy figured out the balance, they were off like a rocket in the water, taking off at exhilarating speeds, sending foam and spray flying into Nico's face from their wake. She squeezed her eyes shut, laughing wildly and enjoying the ride until Poppy started slowing down.

She raised her head, seeing that this part of the mainland was near some cliffs, marveling at the way the ocean surged and foamed against the rocks. Poppy swam around groups of huge rocks to reveal a well-hidden cove. Nico's eyes widened at the sight of the beach in the moonlight, playing through holes in the ceiling. 

Poppy stopped by a flat patch of rock, smoothed by years and years of the ocean washing over it and Nico slid off their back. The merperson pulled themself up onto the rock, offering a hand down to Nico. She took it and together they got Nico seated next to Poppy easily.

"How'd you even find this place? It's amazing," Nico said quietly.

Poppy shrugged with one shoulder as they stretched out on their belly with a big content grin, "Just exploring. This reef is really fun."

Nico nodded and laid down on her back to watch the stars through the natural skylight right above them. They just laid there, letting the sound of the wind and waves gently fill the comfortable silence between them. The water lapped at them and flowed around them as the tide came in and out over the rocks. It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but when Nico was sure the tide was too weak to sweep her away, she relaxed into the rhythm of it, finding her breathing sort of syncing up with the motion naturally.

Nico turned her head to thank Poppy for bringing her out here, but her words caught in her throat when she saw Poppy already looking at her with an adoring smile. It took the shark a moment to realize they were being watched, they jolted a little and the two were frozen, staring at each other.

Tentatively, Nico started reaching out, and when Poppy didn't move away or say anything, she let her hand fall softly against Poppy's cheek. They turned into the touch slightly, and Nico felt herself leaning in. There was something magnetic about Poppy in this moment, and Nico was pressed up against their lips before she really understood what she was doing. They still hadn't talked like they promised to, but that didn't seem to matter anymore, because Poppy was turning on their side as well, pulling Nico close to deepen the kiss.

When they finally separated, Poppy's eyes were glittering, their sharp teeth barely visible in their mouth opened in a small, silent, 'oh.' Their look of surprise slowly melted into a wide, open-mouthed grin, properly showing off their teeth and Nico bit her lip around a smile in response, "That was..." Their jaw worked for a while, trying to find the words, but just 

Nico ended up laughing nervously, "Yeah, me too."

"Wanna go again?" Poppy asked a little breathlessly, their gills fluttering.

"Hell yeah," Nico rasped, throat constricting as she leaned back in quickly. Poppy giggled against her lips as they pressed together again.

They stayed there, laying together to catch their breath and then meet again with gentle kisses and curious hands roaming along arms and heads and shoulders, not brave enough just yet to venture below the waist. Not just yet. Right now was dedicated to just letting this new thing between them breathe so they could explore all these new sensations and let out feelings that had been bottled up for so long.

The moon was starting to set by the time Nico was starting to feel tired and they both needed to rest. Poppy slid back into the water, putting Nico back on their shoulders to swim her back on the ship. Instead of ducking their head under the water to swim off at the thrilling speeds from before, Poppy stayed above the surface and kept the pace slowish so they could chat. Neither of them brought up any of the questions that suddenly came up about the developments in their relationship, partially out of fear and mostly out of not wanting to destroy the light, almost ecstatic atmosphere that was now between them.

"So, what are you going to do about all your tasks tomorrow?"

Nico scoffed, "They can deal, I'm sleeping in," she cuddled into Poppy's back, "Not like I'll be awake for them to get the chance to whine to me about it. How 'bout you? You gonna be okay for tonight?"

Poppy nodded, and the rest of their trip slowly quieted down until Nico was dozing off on their shoulders. She only snapped awake when Poppy lightly jostled her, calling her name softly. She fell off Poppy's back, disoriented from the sudden awakening, splashing loudly into the water, Poppy stifling their laughter behind their hands. Nico broke through the surface of the water, shaking her head, now almost fully awake damp hair all falling in front of her face and clinging to her skin. She fruitlessly shook her head a little to get them out of her vision, "Well, I'm awake now," she spat out a salty, damp lock that fell into her mouth, "Maybe they'll actually get the chance to complain at me."

Poppy snickered, "I'm sure you'll get the chance to sleep in if you try,"

Nico shrugged, "We'll see," she waved Poppy off as she started climbing up the ladder, but turned at the last second.

"Hey," Poppy spun back around and tilted their head, "Thanks..." Nico bit her lip, opening up genuinely still felt a little weird to her, but she kept going for Poppy, "Thanks for bringing me out tonight. I think I really needed that."

Poppy looked up at her in something akin to awe and squeaked happily, "Happy to take you out anytime, Nico."

Heat suddenly flooded into Nico's face and Poppy dove underwater before she could say anything more. She swallowed hard, clutching at her chest in an instinctive attempt to ease the way it was pounding against her ribs, seeming like it was going to punch out of her chest. When she finally made it below deck, toweled off and changed into dry clothes, she threw herself into bed with the biggest grin on her face.


	5. -1 Good(?) Advice

"Don't you have anything better to be doing?"

Nico didn't even look up from her phone, only rolling over on Taiga's bed, where she'd already made herself very comfortable. "Nah, I got everything done for today, so we get to hang out while you work. Haven't done it in a while, so I'm sure you missed me.

She heard him scoff, and just as she was looking up to say some witty retort, Hiiro passed right by Taiga's open door. He did a double-take when he realized Nico was inside and stepped back to stand right inside of the doorframe. Directly in her line of vision to make sure she saw him, but too polite to fully invade Taiga's space. Typical Hiiro, only making moves after he calculated the perfect one. Sometimes she wished he'd loosen up a little, and... oh, yeah, she was getting lectured.

"... so I hope you understand why this is vital to our operation. Get that report to me soon so I can go over it before we return to shore." He fixed her with a cold look, "Are we clear, Saiba?"

"Yup," she replied.

Hiiro's eyes squeezed shut for a moment and his hand twitched, like he was restraining himself from pinching the bridge of his nose. She raised an eyebrow, waiting to see if he was going to say anything else, but he just nodded to both of them and briskly walked away to the upper deck.

"So much for having everything done for today." Taiga mocked when they heard the door close behind Hiiro.

Nico groaned as she forcefully threw herself into a sprawl over the bed, "It's technically not due until the end of this week. And he said, _soon_ so I have time."

"...You do realize it's Sunday, right?"

Nico stared at him blankly, trying to calculate the week based on what she'd gotten done, then remembered she had a phone and flipped it up to her face, the date staring back at her.

"Fuck."

Taiga chuckled, "Better get on it."

"Ughhh, but my brain feels like it wants to melt out of my ears every time I look at it. I already process all our videos, why do I have to do data reports, too?

"Because if you only edited videos, you'd have way too much time on your hands to bother me. Plus Hiiro can't write them all. He and Hojo already have it hard enough trying to coordinate when to spend time together."

"I know, I know... I'll get on it tomorrow." Nico sighed.

There was some awkward silence between them, then Taiga went back to hunching over his computer like a goblin, straining his eyes to see what he was working on.

She watched him for a while until a smirk crept its way onto her face, "Y'know, you should really look into getting some glasses," She drawled as she went back to scrolling through her Reddit feed. "I'm sure Maki could help you pick out some nice frames and it'd be a cute couples look for you two."

His already slow typing ground to a stop as he sighed heavily, "I'm fine," he insisted, and she looked up to raise an eyebrow and give him an 'oh really,' look to see he was glaring back at her, too.

He stared her down for a few more moments then went back to looking at his screen, probably deciding that his eyes were better spent taking damage from his laptop than squinting at Nico.

"What are you here for anyway," he grumbled.

"I have no idea what you mean."

"I know how you work. We never hang out when you camp out in my room like this. So what do you want? Last chance before I ignore you for the rest of the night."

Nico's lips twisted into a scowl. She hoped Taiga wouldn't pick up on it but she really was here for a favor. She sighed heavily. Taiga wasn't exactly her first choice on what she needed, but as far as she knew, Kiriya didn't have the experience she wanted for this question, and Hiiro did, but the ways they approached life were so different, his advice would probably only be interesting, but not helpful for her. Taiga was her only option, so she might as well bite the bullet.

"Yeah." She said carefully.

She took a while to find the specific words for her question and she must've taken so long that Taiga got concerned. When she looked back up at him, he had put his work aside and was looking at her with his full attention, which was the exact opposite of what she wanted.

Internally screaming, Nico hoped he'd pick up on her panic and turn away again to make this less awkward. But of course, this was Taiga, and he didn't pick up on anything unless she said it right to his face. "I was kinda hoping..." she grimaced hard, "Could you give me some dating advice?" she said finally.

Taiga almost fell out of his chair, thankfully catching himself against the desk but not before he bumped his elbow against his laptop so hard he was doubled over and clutching it for a while. Nico gawked at him while he cursed under his breath and hissed in pain, unsure if she should look away and give him the limited space she could, or just watch and wait for him to recover. Fortunately, she didn't really have to make a choice since he sat back up quick enough and nodded at her to continue with a disgruntled expression.

She looked at him skeptically but took a deep breath, "Okay, so there's someone I met..." She absolutely hadn't planned far enough for this, and any sentences she had planned out ahead of time were starting to slip from her mind. Did she need to make up someplace that she met Poppy? Would it be too suspicious if she didn't have a fake place to say they were from?

"Do you want to know how to ask them out?"

Nico flinched, "Um yes? Or, well, no, I already know how, but I'm— y'know?" She kept rambling on and on, running herself in circles trying to remember exactly what she wanted to ask him about.

Taiga held his hands up placatingly, "Okay, shut up and just calm down. You sound like you're gonna blow a vein or something, and if you die from it I'm just chucking you into the hall for Hiiro and Kiriya to deal with."

The comment snapped her to attention, "You're such a dick!" she yelled as she flung his pillow at him. He easily caught it between his already raised hands and then slowly lowered it to reveal a very punchable smirk. It was doubly so because he knew exactly what buttons to push to get her out of that anxious spiral and she was a little salty about his methods. But he did get Nico back to a state where she could properly talk to him again, so she'd let it go this time.

"So what'd you want to ask me about, again?" Taiga said with that annoying face, and Nico sneered at him.

"So, I met someone. And it's complicated, because they're from a really different culture, but there's one gesture of theirs I understand, and I wanna do it, but I don't know if there's any other details I'm missing out on. But I can't ask now because they'll probably know what I'm up to and I want it to be a surprise."

Taiga nodded along to her explanation, "And the rest of the details can't be found anywhere on the internet?"

Nico did her best to keep from freezing or flinching, "Nah, it might be more of something within their community instead of some big thing that'd be well known.

Taiga shrugged, "I'd say just go for it then. You can always apologize for not knowing everything because you were too much of a wuss to actually follow up and ask them."

Nico rolled her eyes for lack of things to throw since he was still holding the pillow in his lap. "Okay, okay, you made your point."

They sat there in uneasy silence, staring each other down for a while. Taiga almost turned back to his work a few times, opening his mouth like he wanted to say something, but decided not to every time. She was about to get up and leave when he finally asked,

"Hey, is there something else bothering you?"

She hesitated. On one hand, he was right, there was a reason she came to ask him specifically and it wasn't just about getting approval for how to make things official with Poppy. It was about making it last if they actually agreed to the relationship.

Honestly, it seemed so ridiculous to ask about since it obviously couldn't work. Nico wasn't always going to be out at sea, and it wasn't like Poppy could come up on land. Based on his relationship with Emu, Hiiro should've been the one to ask, but when Nico thought about it more, even doing long distance between them was impossible unless merfolk got cell phone reception. But that's what got her thinking about Taiga and Maki. They'd been together since she'd known them, and back then, wifi wasn't strong enough and they didn't have enough money to get equipment to improve their reception during research trips, radio contact only. That was still more than what she and Poppy were going to get if they went all-in with this, but any advice he could give on how he dealt with those times of minimal contact could be valuable.

She twisted part of his blanket around her hand and nodded, "Um... Since they're from somewhere else. Sometimes talking with them online isn't always possible. But I really want this to work. Maybe for forever. So I was hoping you'd have some advice."

Taiga's jaw shifted and he nodded slightly.

"Sorry, I don't really have good advice for you. It was hard for us. And for you and whoever you're interested in, it's going to be hard, too. You might fight, get jealous, I really don't know. But just..." He rubbed a hand against the back of his neck, letting it slide off his shoulder and limply hit the pillow in his lap, "If you're as serious about them as I was about Maki, cherish every second you can get with them and keep talking to them when you can. And talk to us about it, too. I know we're all dysfunctional at best, but we're still here for you. We may not always have something that can help but we'll do what we can."

Nico took some time to steady herself and not cry in front of him. And when she felt ready, she slid off the bed and went over to hug him quickly. He was surprised, but she stayed there long enough for him to briefly return the embrace, then she was pulling away and giving him a light jab on the shoulder.

"Thanks," she said before leaving through the door, "You're right, that didn't help much, but I think it helped more than you thought." 

Taiga watched her linger in the door frame for a while with wide eyes, but finally, he gave her a full-on smile, "Good, now get the hell out of here."

She stuck her tongue out at him but left with her own big grin, digging into her pocket on the way back to her own room, fingers playing across the knitted texture of her scrunchie excitedly.


	6. 0 Over the Edge

Nico did her best to keep from growling in frustration or sighing loud enough to be heard as she pressed her ear to the wall she shared with Taiga. He kept shuffling around in there and she wasn’t entirely sure if he was pacing in there or doing something with his work, but she was on the verge of slamming her fist into the wall and yelling at him to sleep. Checking her phone showed it was already past 23:00 and he was usually passed out by now and she was already late for her date with Poppy.

Just as she was planning on how to knock him out and make sure he didn’t remember she was the one who did it, the sounds started to quiet down from Taiga’s room. Nico pressed her ear closer and closed her eyes, listening intently to the complete silence for a while. She checked her phone for the time, and mentally cursed at how much time he took to fall asleep or whatever. Not wanting to waste any more time, she grabbed her towel from the desk and placed her phone on it gently.

She threw off her sleep clothes, revealing a pink and red two-piece swimsuit that was a bit ratty on the spaghetti straps, but still totally functional. Nico wanted to look nice for tonight, but also didn’t want to take something along that she’d be too upset about losing just in case tonight went the way she was hoping for.

Poking her head out the door, Nico took a quick look around the hall to make sure she was in the clear. She suppressed a giggle at Hiiro’s faint snoring from behind his door and mentally marked him as accounted for, then tiptoed her way towards Kiriya’s room. Pressing her ear against it, she could hear some fumbling around inside and decided to book it for the stairs. She made it up, not even bothering to look back, just finding a place near the ladder on her usual side to hide her towel then dove off the side into the inky water below.

Usually, Poppy would already be in the water waiting for her so they could swim off to wherever they wanted to hang out for the night. But this time Nico asked for the shark to meet her at the little cove Poppy had shown her before. It was mostly out of nerves because… She wanted to start courting Poppy and like she told Taiga before, she had no idea how it was going to go or if she even had the broad strokes of this custom down.

Nico was grateful that she asked for the time alone, already able to imagine the nervous wreck she’d be if she was swimming alongside Poppy. Or even worse (or better, depending on the circumstances, honestly right now would be the only "worse" scenario) clinging tight to Poppy’s shoulders and back as the merperson surged through the waves like it was nothing, and she could feel every flex and stretch of the muscles beneath her. Now, _that_ would be distracting, and Nico needed some mental space for herself to calm down and make sure she had what she wanted to say clear in her mind. As she thought, she’d slow down, or even completely stop to tread water on the way there. All her normal bravado and wanting to charge in was slowly getting eaten away by nervousness. It was so easy to be assertive for her under normal circumstances, but this whole thing just had her all messed up.

Even with all the slowing down and sorting out her thoughts, Nico still arrived at the cove sooner than expected. She hoisted herself onto the smooth rocks and froze in place with a leg still in the water when she caught sight of Poppy.

The merperson was laying on their belly, head resting serenely on their arms, the moonlight playing off their damp skin in a captivating way. After remembering how to breathe, Nico stared for a moment longer then swallowed hard. She gently tugged at the courting gift she brought on her wrist, suddenly worried about losing it on the trip here for some reason. But sure enough, the little plastic bubbles tickled against her fingers, the reassurance and reminder of why she was here powering her to move forward. As she approached, she was careful not to fall. The constant motion of the waves over the ground was gentle, not strong enough to knock her over by themselves, and the water was shallow, only reaching about halfway up her feet. But she knew from experience that rocks as smooth and wet as these were a perfect recipe for looking super uncool in front of her crush.

Poppy must’ve heard her sloshing around because their head lifted from their arms and they looked around idly. When their gaze finally landed on Nico, they perked up, beaming at her with a huge, toothy grin.

“You showed up!”

Nico swore if Poppy could spontaneously trade their tail for legs and sweep her off her feet, they would in that instant. Unfortunately, they still had limited movement on land, so Nico rushed over to greet Poppy with equal enthusiasm. In her hurry, her foot slipped, but she managed to turn it into a reasonably cool looking slide on her knees, rolling right up next to the shark.

Poppy giggled, pushing up on one elbow to pull her down into a tight hug, nuzzling her briefly before kissing her eagerly. When they separated, they had almost twin smiles on their faces.

“I think I like this kind of greeting the best.”

“Happy to see you, too,” Nico said, before putting on a playfully stern expression, “And what’s that about ‘I showed up?’ How dare you doubt me.”

Poppy’s eyes turned big and their expression melted into something pleading but a little coy, “Well, you took so _long!”_ They said with exaggerated concern, “I couldn’t help but wonder if something else thought you looked and smelled as delicious as I do and you couldn’t make it.”

Nico rolled her eyes, “Ah yes, so worried you just laid here instead of coming to rescue me.”

“Well, I couldn’t bear to bring any harm to your precious dignity, right? You’re more than capable of defending yourself.”

Nico snorted and couldn’t think of a good comeback, so she just smushed their faces together, nuzzling Poppy’s nose with her own for a bit before rubbing their cheeks together like a cat.

Poppy silently returned the gesture, and they let the tight embrace and gentle touches and kisses speak for them for a while. Nico melted into Poppy’s strong arms, pressing their chests together and admiring how soft Poppy felt against her. And even under that softness, she could feel the comfort and allure of powerful muscles as well.

Nico’s gaze drifted back up to Poppy’s eyes, glittering down at her, and she decided now was the perfect time to…

“I have something I want to a—”  
“So I was thinking— oh,”

They blinked at each other owlishly.

“You should go first,” Poppy said.

Nico’s mouth slowly fell open. She could taste the salty air as she took in a slow breath, held it… then…

“No you should go first,” She ended up insisting.

“You sure?”

Nico nodded, swallowing her nervousness so she could reply, “Yeah, definitely.

Poppy seemed to take a deep breath, gills flaring open and Nico braced herself for whatever they wanted to share.

“Well…” Their eyes darted around momentarily, “I was wondering if you wanted a do-over of our first time?”

Nico’s eyebrows raised and Poppy continued, their initial slow pace starting to pick up, “I was just thinking how it was a little awkward, but it was mating season and I do cherish the memory, but I was just thinking that a more… umm… formal? That’s not really the word, but close enough. Anyway! Since we’re all intimate now and all…”

They kept going, words starting to run together as their flustered chatter was approaching warp speed. But Nico couldn’t even process all of it even if she wanted to, because her brain had snagged on that first coherent thought: that Poppy wanted to try having sex again. Nico had spent so much time trying to figure out how to bring it up, (the rest of the time was spent fantasizing about what they’d do if they even got that far), but now Poppy had done it all on their own and it was sending Nico into a spiral.

Her brain was just a loop, going back and forth between intense joy and disbelief that she heard right. And underscoring those warring feelings was anxiety, and suppressing the impulse to just lean forward and kiss them silly just in case she actually heard wrong, with a pinch of arousal just to top off this mess with a nice, embarrassing, little cherry.

Poppy’s tangent seemed to have stopped when Nico finally came back to herself to focus on the situation, noticing the merperson looking at her in anticipation. How long had they been doing that? Nico had no clue, but it apparently had been long enough for Poppy to worry.

“Um sorry, if I read the situation wrong—”

Nico's brain quickly clicked with what her silence had implied and she surged forward, kissing Poppy deeply.

“No! No, you didn’t,” She said breathlessly when she finally pulled away, “I was honestly thinking of it too, but hearing you say it out loud was just… _wow,_ I guess?”

Poppy’s jaw dropped briefly, but they giggled nervously at her, “I think I get it.”

Nico just nodded and kissed Poppy’s cheek and they tentatively began feeling each other out. They kept kissing as Poppy’s hands hovered over Nico’s skin, just barely brushing against her from time to time while she went all in, making sure her touches were still gentle to not spook the merperson. But, the uncertain touches were starting to make Nico impatient, so she broke away from Poppy’s mouth, trailing kisses and nips down their jaw and along their neck. She ran her hands along their tiny, rough scales, making sure to rub in the same direction. Bloodplay wasn’t the right tone for a first time like this, and she wanted it to be a sexy devouring if it ever came to that, not a literal one, even if she mostly trusted Poppy not to give in to her instincts.

As Nico’s exploration continued, feeling up the muscles in Poppy’s arms, running her fingers along their belly, and finally getting the chance to gently squeeze the soft flesh on their chest and kiss along their curves, Poppy shuddered against her and let out cute squeaks and gasps. Her more confident exploration seemed to inspire Poppy, and they finally laid a hand on her.

At the first touch of their large palm, Nico felt her heart start hammering in her chest. They easily wrapped her whole shoulder in their hand, and she leaned up into the touch as their hand trailed across her collarbone, fingers dragging against her skin and leaving goosebumps in the wake of the barely-there touch of their claws. Poppy started sliding their hand down towards her chest, but one of their claws snagged on the strap of her swimsuit top, tearing through it completely.

Poppy’s hand retracted instantly and Nico looked down at the ripped strap in awe. Poppy was already starting to apologize but Nico looked up at them with an excited grin that stopped them right in their tracks.

“That was actually really hot.” She breathed.

Poppy blinked at her and Nico just laughed, grabbing Poppy’s hand with both of her own. She rubbed at their inner wrist soothingly with one thumb, feeling their pulse thrumming against her skin, and with the other she pressed their hands together, marveling at the size difference. Poppy looked at their hands and smiled lightly, seemingly enchanted by the contrast as well. When she was satisfied (and honestly a little embarrassed) with being all mushy, she switched her grip on Poppy’s hand, leading it down to grab at her boob. She was a little self-conscious of how small it was, but Poppy gave it a little squeeze and their smile blossomed into a wide grin. With that boost to her ego, Nico placed a hand on the back of Poppy’s, pressing down and guiding their fingers to squeeze and tear four jagged lines through her top, letting that half of it fall away and expose her boob to the cold night air.

Poppy tensed, looking like they were about to panic again, “But you didn’t let me…”

“The shark cage was different,” Nico reassured them, “If you ripped it then I’d have to go back on deck naked and in front of people. But since it’s late, I’ll be fine.”

The merperson’s confused look slowly morphed into surprise, then understanding, and Nico smiled playfully, leaning in to peck them on the cheek, “So basically what I’m saying is… Go wild.”

Poppy seemed a little hesitant at first, but after rolling Nico onto her back for better access to trail their claws all up and down her form, they seemed to grow more confident and excited about the idea.

Where Nico was expecting claws to start tearing into her clothes, Poppy’s fingers played across her already exposed belly and sides gently. And while she was distracted, squirming and arching up into the touches, Poppy’s jaws came down in a flash, biting through the other strap to her top and part of the material covering her. The material tore easily, and then Poppy yanked their head back, shredding the fabric more and letting her other tit fall free.

She could feel the gentle vibrations and warm burst of air from Poppy’s amused chuckle against her, and Nico closed her eyes, arching her back instinctively, silently asking for more. And Poppy gave her soft kisses across her chest in response, fingers trailing further and further down her body until they were pressing between her legs, the light pressure and the smooth texture of the material making her head spin in the best kind of ways.

Poppy explored this new part of her for a while, content with rubbing Nico through her swimsuit bottoms while they explored all the new places to kiss and lick and gently bite. Under all the gentle touches, Nico was falling apart. She kept whining and begging for more, for Poppy to go harder, rip the rest of her clothes off. She wanted Poppy to do something, anything but this slow, sweet torment. Unfortunately, the shark seemed to be having fun playing with her like this, only beaming down at her with an amused grin until she finally seemed to take mercy.

A finger tapped against her clit a few times, seemingly lost in thought, and Nico stifled a gasp at finally getting some direct stimulation there. She lifted up onto her elbows to see what Poppy was up to down there, head dizzy from just that small movement. Apparently, she was just in time to catch Poppy was planning, or maybe they’d been waiting for her to look. Either way, she caught the grin directed at her and her skin broke out in goosebumps as she shuddered when Poppy’s nails tore four clean lines through her swim shorts.

Poppy’s mouth fell slightly open as they looked down at Nico, gently running fingers through the trimmed hair down there. With some effort, they were able to scoot themself down to be at eye level with her folds, being careful with their claws as they feathered long, slow strokes against her experimentally.

Nico finally cried out at that and instinctively thrust down to meet Poppy’s touches. Their pale yellowish tongue poked out, gliding along their lips briefly and Nico’s breathing sped up as she felt the first touch of their rough tongue to her clit. Encouraged by her reaction, Poppy pressed in closer, licking in earnest, and even getting bold enough to lean up and kiss her tenderly. This was so much more intense than anything Nico had ever done before, and she had an idea that the inherent danger of Poppy’s literally sharp grin being so close to such a delicate place was part of the reason she was so dizzy.

Skirting the line between grievous injury and Poppy intently eating her out was definitely something Nico wanted to try in the future. She was of the mindset that a little pain could be a lot of fun, but a first time wasn’t exactly the best time, (even if it was a do-over.) And Poppy was obviously trying to be careful of their teeth, probably nervous, so Nico could wait until they worked up to it. Poppy was doing amazing between her legs anyway, so she had no reason to mess with their flow. And it was a good thing too, because it was only a few minutes later that Poppy figured out how to multitask with their hands on her labia and clit, and their tongue licking into her in a pattern that had her trembling.

Nico was falling apart under Poppy in what felt like record time, her orgasm actually surprising her with how strong and fast it hit.

The moan she let out echoed against the rocks and water, and she swore it could’ve been heard back at the boat. Nico grimaced hard at how much of an instant mood kill that thought had been for her, so she distracted herself by slowly shifting her position down so she could hold Poppy’s face in her hands and distract herself with kisses to banish that thought to the Shadowrealm.

Poppy giggled into her kisses and held her close. Nico grinned back and put a hand on their belly, just idly tracing circular patterns into them, slowly drifting lower and lower until they caught against the slit right between their pelvic fins. She heard a soft gasp from above her and looked up to meet Poppy’s surprised expression with a smirk.

She lightly dragged her fingers up and down, tracing the rim of Poppy’s cloaca, teasing inside every once in a while, but never more than her fingertip. The shark made little gasps and soft moans at every touch. Nico even lightly touched at their claspers, dragging along with a featherlight touch as she kissed and sucked at their collarbones since she was a bit too short to reach their neck and cloaca at the same time.

But if Poppy craned their neck down a little, it was kind of the perfect position for them to whisper sweet nothings into her hair. Or in this case, hold her by the back of the head while the other slid down to help her get Poppy off, the shark telling her what places felt good and where to touch. Nico’s face heated up instantly, feeling the arousal from Poppy’s warm voice guiding her along their body starting to pool in her belly again.

It was still a little annoying for Nico to be reminded how short she was in this position, but they’d probably figure out some workarounds as they did this more. Nico cuddled into Poppy’s shoulder at that thought, feeling overwhelmed as that thought started to really sink in. This wouldn’t be a one and done like last time was supposed to be if she could actually talk to Poppy once they were done with this and they felt the same way she thought they did.

As she was lost in thought, her hand must’ve slowed or something, because the next thing she knew, Poppy was hoisting her up so she was straddling them, pressing their bodies together in a way that sent a jolt of pleasure through both of them. The shark’s hands slid down to her hips, subtly grinding them together. Their claspers gripping onto Nico’s hips startled her, but once she realized what they were, she relaxed into the somewhat familiar hold. They started to move against each other with more intent, and Nico realized she was still too short to lay across Poppy’s body and reach their face unless they leaned down, but she was more than willing to settle for resting her face against their chest. She felt a chuckle reverberate against her ear and looked up to see Poppy with an amused grin on their face.

Nico pouted, and rolled her hips with more intent, getting a gasp and their hips jerking up against her in response. She smirked at them briefly, but the look quickly melted into open-mouthed, hazy-eyed pleasure when Poppy gripped her hips and rolled into her again, this time with more fervor. She ground down in response, and they quickly chased each other to orgasm.

Poppy’s release gushed from their vent, mixing with Nico’s as they rode out the last of their climactic high. Nico let out an exhausted sigh, slowly rolling off Poppy’s body to lay next to them on the rocks to cool off, hoping the ocean would do most of the work in cleaning her up. She was faintly aware of arms turning her on her side and the body beside her cuddling close, a low, soothing noise coming from somewhere deep in their chest. If it was anyone else or any other time, she might’ve tried to respond or be the “big spoon” but at this moment, she was totally happy letting her partner do whatever they wanted.

Nico was completely limp, slowly coming into a feeling where she was almost hyper-aware of her post-orgasm contentedness and the soft, protective embrace of Poppy’s body. They laid there together for a long while until Nico realized this might be her moment. She shifted slightly to bring her wrist up and slide the scrunchie off, taking one of Poppy’s hands in hers. The merperson looked at her quizzically, and Nico just smiled fondly and slipped the scrunchie around their wrist. Poppy blinked, looking between Nico’s face and their wrist with bright eyes.

“This is what I wanted to tell you earlier. Something to always remember me by,” Nico said softly, “Also, um, it’s a courting gift,” she finished awkwardly, doing everything in her power to stop herself from averting her eyes or hiding her face.

Poppy’s eyes were practically sparkling and Nico had no idea how that glimmer looked so adorable every time, especially this time. She didn’t get to put any more thought into it because there was a blur of pink and red and suddenly she was swept up in the sweetest, most passionate kiss. Every so often Poppy would lean back marginally, Nico feeling the wide smile against her lips. She let out a surprised giggle as Poppy yanked her close in a tight hug while they pulled away to look her in the eye.

“I could never forget you, I’ll cherish this forever,” Poppy said earnestly, “And yes, I absolutely accept.”

They basked in that excitement another moment until Poppy’s eyes went wide with realization.

“I have to find a gift for you now!”

As Poppy worked themself up over it, Nico just laughed and kissed them firmly.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, and I'm sure I'll love it.”

"Just like you love me?" Poppy said hopefully.

Nico pretended to think about it for a while, but just smirked at them in the end, "Nah, I don't think I could like anything more than you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes that shadowrealm was a joking yu-gi-oh reference but kept in because spellcheck told me it's a real word and I thought that was really funny


	7. +1 Epilogue

Nico hoisted herself up on the final rung of the ladder, the shreds of the two-piece swimsuit barely clinging to her or clutched in her hand as she sprawled out on the deck. Her chest heaved with exertion as she stared up at the stars for a while, still feeling a little floaty from the sex and the huge jump she'd just taken with Poppy in terms of their relationship. Still, the fear of getting caught practically naked on deck prickled at the back of her mind, and she wobbled back to her feet.

After some digging around, she found the towel she'd hidden away and wrapped herself in it. As tempting as it was to strip out of the shredded remains of her clothes, getting back to her room and hiding any evidence of her date was more important right now. Nico thought she was home free when she heard something thump against the opposite side of the deck. She panicked, starting to run, trying to find a place to hide when she realized who it was.

"Kiriya?" She whispered harshly.

The figure in the shadows of the equipment crates flinched and reluctantly stood up. Kiriya came into view, with a towel hastily held over his junk because his boardshorts were shredded like her own swimsuit.

He gave her a once over, realization quickly spreading on his face and she knew she'd been caught. Nico started screaming internally, but Kiriya quickly shuffled over to her, holding one hand up placatingly.

"Nico, I know what you're thinking, but we're in this together, okay? I promise I won't tell if you don't."

She took a few deep breaths through her nose while nodding frantically, the pieces finally coming together of what he'd been up to as well. Maybe he found the source of that weird specimen he’d been obsessing over and got attached to that as well. Well, no matter who or what he’d just been with, Kiriya was right, they were in this together, and if they were going to keep their respective... partners? Partners, she guessed, safe from discovery, they needed to have each others' backs. Just as she was opening her mouth to respond, the deck lights came on, almost blinding them both as the door leading to the rooms below burst open.

Taiga stood there menacingly, Hiiro only a few steps behind and peeking around his shoulder with a concerned expression.

The two of them took in Nico and Kiriya's appearances and she could see the way their faces fell and then morphed into something akin to horror.

"You two..." Hiiro said, but it was suddenly cut off by Taiga shouting, "What the actual hell?"

Nico and Kiriya shared a glance. She knew what they looked like, clothes shredded and out on the deck all wet together, and Kiriya probably knew, too. If they were going to keep the secret of their merpeople, there was only one lie they could tell.

"So, we were g—"  
"We're fuckin'!" Nico accidentally cut Kiriya off, thinking that they were on the same train of thought. But no, apparently he was waiting at the correct stop and she just dragged him away, throwing them both through the closing doors of a completely different train that was currently speeding off. Now he was also looking at her in horror, but quickly covered up the look with a mostly convincing grin at Taiga and Hiiro.

"Yeah, we sure are." He shrugged uncomfortably, "Sorry for trying to beat around the bush."

“You’ve had your fun. Now, what’s the truth?” Hiiro said with a stern expression.

Nico glanced over to Kiriya worriedly before quickly returning her attention to the two in the doorway, trying to make her expression as clueless and innocent as possible “What do you mean by that?”

Hiiro sighed, looking at them tiredly, “Well, besides your very obvious failure to coordinate a cover-up story, you’re both, as you say ‘gay as fuck’ so I don’t see why either of you would find any interest in each other.”

Taiga choked on what must’ve been his own spit, as Nico let out a cry of surprise at Hiiro cursing, even if it was just to quote them. She and Kiriya managed to kick up enough of a fuss by laughing over Hiiro swearing for the first time that he and Taiga eventually dropped it, promising they’d get the truth out of them tomorrow since it was so late.

“Don’t expect us to trust it, since we’re giving you time to actually make up a decent lie, but we will get the truth out of you two eventually.” Taiga threatened as he and Hiiro went back to their rooms.

Nico watched them for a while, waiting for them to settle down while she stood in front of Kiriya in the narrow hall.

“Well,” She turned to him with a sly grin, “Do you wanna make up something they’ll probably believe in your room or mine?”

“Let’s go to yours, I still have the observation tank so there’s less space.”

She nodded and let both of them in, still wrapped up in her towel as she collapsed onto her bed. She could always clean up the sheets later from the dampness she was getting all over it. Meanwhile, Kiriya stretched out on her floor. Nico tossed a pillow down to him and rolled so she could peek over the side and see him.

“So, before we get into the plan for this, wanna tell me about your new fuckbuddy?”

Kiriya snorted, “Only if you tell me about yours after.”

She dangled a hand toward him, pinky extended, and he curled his own around it, “Deal.”


End file.
